War erupts over onscreen legacy of Yves Saint Laurent

War has erupted over the screen legacy of Yves Saint Laurent after the late fashion designer's longtime partner threatened to sue the makers of a "warts-and-all" biopic, while backing another "official" film.

In the red corner,
Saint Laurent
, a film directed by Bertrand Bonello, has received the go ahead from the owner of Yves Saint Laurent brand, François Pinault, to use the logo and dresses in his possession.

In the blue corner,
Yves Saint Laurent
, directed by Jalil Lespert, is a film which has the official blessing of Pierre Bergé, 82, the couturier's companion on and off from 1958 until his death in 2008 and the guardian of his creative legacy.

Hostilities recently came to a head when Mr Bergé threw his weight behind Mr Lespert's movie while promising to do everything in his power to "ban" the release of the rival film.

"Two films on YSL? I hold the moral rights over YSL's work, his image and mine and have only authorised Jalil Lespert. A trial on the cards?," threatened the multi-millionaire part-owner of
Le Monde
newspaper on his Twitter account.

Nicknamed "the Dean of Yves Saint Laurent", Mr Bergé is notoriously protective of his ex-lover's image and reputation. Approached by Mr Lespert, he agreed to grant him access to his foundation, which possesses 5,000 dresses, 15,000 accessories and 35,000 sketches.

But Mr Bonello's team wrote a letter to Mr Bergé explaining that they had chosen not to seek his blessing in the name of "freedom of expression". The response from his lawyers was immediate: it forbade them to touch on his private life or use his image or any Saint Laurent creations in his possession.

"Bergé's role, even when Saint Laurent was alive, has been: 'I tell the story.' Saint Laurent had a very complicated life and Bergé always managed the legend. That's why he couldn't take being dispossessed of that story," said Thomas Bidegain, scriptwriter for the Bonnello film.

He said the film naturally addressed the "dark side" of the flamboyant designer, a man of "absolute excess", during his rapid rise from 1965 to 1976.

"At the start we see a very shy provincial young man. Ten years later, he is producing his greatest collections but is already in hospital with lots of addictions and problems getting around and speaking at the age of 40. It's this turning point that interests us," he said.

However, he insisted the film contains "nothing that hasn't already been covered in books", celebrates his great sense of humour, and that Mr Bergé comes across well.

The rival "official" film is no hagiography, he added. "It's simply recounted by Bergé, like Mozart recounted by Salieri." But in terms of artistic merit, he said the difference was clear when looking at the posters: "Ours is a cinema poster, the other looks like a telefilm." Despite claiming they were "not scared of Bergé's legal threats", the producers of the Bonello film yesterday announced they were dropping out of the race to be first to hit cinema theatres so as not to compromise their "artistic ambitions", and would delay shooting until September.

While Mr Bidegain said the news was a personal setback , he said Mr Saint Laurent would have been "highly amused".